Early in their evolution, computers employed operating systems such as MS-DOS® that used command line interfaces. That is, a user controlled these operating systems by typing specific commands on a command line. Similarly, the application programs that ran on these early computers used command line interfaces. While these operating systems and applications were very powerful, they required a user to know a number of different specialized commands in order to effectively operate a computer. The complexity of these commands severely limited the number of people who could use a computer. Many people who did not have the time or ability to learn the necessary commands were unable to operate these computers, or at least unable to operate them effectively.
As computers evolved, software developers created both operating systems and applications that were simpler to learn and use. For example, the Windows® operating system provided graphical user interfaces instead of command line interfaces. This allowed users to operate a computer simply by moving or activating icons. Also, instead of having to remember a specific command, a user could now activate a menu that would list all of the available commands. The user could then activate the desired command by, for example, moving a displayed cursor to the listing of that command and pressing an activation button (sometimes referred to as “clicking on” the command).
The Windows® operating system had a dramatic effect on the use of computers around the globe. Rather than having to learn a detailed list of user commands, a user could now employ almost any software application with only a rudimentary knowledge of that application and its underlying operating system. This revolution has opened the use of computers to a wide segment of the population, from small children too young to read to senior citizens. In turn, it has led to the exponential and ubiquitous use of computers in all walks of society.
Similarly, the development of the hypertext markup language (HTML) has spurred the growth of an entirely new economy implemented over computer networks, such as the Internet. While the Internet has existed in one form or another for decades, it was difficult for the ordinary person to navigate the Internet. Instead, a user typically had to be skilled in telnet and the file transfer protocol (FTP) to consistently obtain information over the Internet. With the advent of HTML and the World Wide Web, users now routinely employ browsers (i.e., software applications for retrieving and displaying markup language pages from the Internet) to perform almost every type of commercial transaction, including buying and reading books in electronic form.
This growth in the use of computers to conduct business over the Internet has created some problems, however. For example, in order to obtain content from the Internet, a user must employ a browser program, but these browser programs have become very complex. Part of the problem with these browser programs is that they must offer a generalized interface in order to accomplish a variety of tasks and goals. In order to perform this variety of tasks and goals, these browser programs must be complex, with a large number of commands and control options. Thus, many individuals still find this software difficult to use, and these people have been cut off from the benefits provided by the new digital marketplace.
Further, as more and more information is accessible over the Internet, it becomes more and more difficult to isolate information useful for a particular purpose. For example, a number of companies maintain Web sites for selling electronic books over the Internet. If a user does not know the specific Internet address for one of these Web sites, however, the user may have to employ a search engine to obtain one. Depending upon the user's search criteria, the search results produced by the search engine may include only a few useful Web sites, if any at all. Alternately, the search results may include several useful Web sites, but list these useful Web sites among so many other unrelated Web sites that the user must tediously parse through all of the results to identify those Web sites that are pertinent.
Moreover, once a user has located a useful Web site and would like to make a purchase, the process of making the purchase may be difficult or confusing for the user. For example, one merchant may require the user to submit a great deal of information, such as the user's age, education, occupation, email address, etc. Another merchant, on the other hand, may only require the user's credit card information and the delivery address. Some merchants may accept electronic cash, while still other merchants may accept only charges to a well-established credit card account. Further, some merchants may require a new user to set up a permanent account in order to make a purchase, while other merchants may allow a user to make a one-time purchase. Still further, if the user has not made a previous purchase from the merchant, the user may be uncertain as to the honesty of the merchant or the quality of the merchant's goods. Also, even after a user has located and accessed a useful Web site, the Web site may not have its information organized in a convenient fashion. Some merchants may provide a detailed description and image of each product, while other merchants may only give a list of its products, identifying each with only a short reference.
The wide variety in the access, use and format of different commercial Web sites make it difficult for some user's to employ multiple sites. Instead, many users locate only a few sites that they feel comfortable navigating and purchasing from, and then limit their future purchases to just those Web sites. Also, while some software for making purchases over the Internet (e.g., browsers) allow a user to save the Internet addresses of useful Web sites once they've been located, the addresses for these sites can be changed or deleted without updating the user's software. Thus, a user may be unable to identify a favorite Web site if its address is changed. Moreover, if a user is purchasing content for use with a software application, the user cannot do so in a single step. Instead, the user must separately locate the relevant content, purchase the content, download the content, and then integrate the content with the application, each in a different operation.